I’m in the New F(r)iction Issue!

Posted on July 31, 2025 by erictaveren

My lifelong writing goal has always been simple: walk into a Barnes and Noble and see my name on a book. Well, I’m almost there 🙂

Instead of seeing my name on a book, I can see my name in one. F(r)iction’s newest issue, Oceans, is out, and unlike every other print magazine I’ve been published in—which were only available online—F(r)iction is stocked in Barnes and Nobles stores across the country! They already sent me my contributor copies, but I still had to go see my name in person.

As you can see, F(r)iction is not your ordinary literary magazine. Each issue is themed, and each piece has custom art created for it. I got a behind the scenes peek at their whole process and it is crazy cool.

I first saw F(r)iction three years ago at AWP in Seattle, and I knew immediately that if there was any magazine that I wanted a piece in, it was F(r)iction. I didn’t realize the issues were themed initially, and the first piece I sent in got rejected. But when I saw the Oceans theme coming I knew exactly what story I wanted to tell. It was mere days after submitting that they responded and wanted to work with me.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the story is based on a character from a novel I’ve outlined. I changed him a little so it made sense for a short story, but the novel’s character is a marine geologist who makes a world changing discovery near some thermal vents. For the short story I took the implications of his discovery, shaped them into a character, seasoned them with relationship drama, then let it simmer until the story was fully cooked.

I do have to thank Nate and Helen over at F(r)iction. Especially Nate. Without their input this story wouldn’t have the same oomph. We writers always have blind spots and they did an amazing job shining a light on what I was overlooking.

So head to your local Barnes and Noble and find it in their newsstand section (You may want to call first to see if they have it, the only location in my area that did was the Mall of America location). Or order it online if that’s easier. My story isn’t the only fun read in the issue either. You’ll find my story alongside work by Charlie Jane Anders, James Bradley, Dr. Ocean, and other brilliant contributors. It’s a gorgeous issue—go check it out.

Accidental Inspiration

Posted on April 10, 2025 by erictaveren

Hey all. This’ll be a quick one. While at AWP I was talking with a horror writer and we were sharing setting ideas. We both have personal history in rural settings, and after I described my setting and a general idea to go with it, he full body shivered and told me to write the story. ASAP.

Now that thesis is in, I think that’ll be a good mental reset before I finish drafting the novel. I’d been thinking about the theme of it, and the tone, and my mind went back to a Stephen King story I’d read ages ago, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon. In my mind it was a short story, probably because I’d read the pop-up book version. Lo and behold, the actual book was on my bookshelf. Points for being a book collector.

So I grab the book, stick it in my bag for the hotel (my wife has a work event in Kentucky and I’m on baby duty), with the expectation to carve out some time to work on it. Then I see this in the hotel:

It’s not exactly the Overlook Hotel, but the vibes are definitely there. Here I am, planning to read Stephen King, and I walk into this hotel. To top it off, I go into the bathroom, and the shower looks a lot like the one Rosamund Pike uses in Gone Girl to wash off all the blood.

I wanted to write a horror story. Looks like I’ve got plenty of inspiration to work with. Maybe instead of sitting in the lobby downstairs or at the desk in the room, I’ll just camp out in the hallway, cross-legged, and let the periphery mess with my head as my fingers work.

Until next time.

Also, what’s with these libraries in Kentucky?! I feel like they’re doing them very right, or very wrong.

On the Streets in Santa Monica, and Thesis too.

Posted on April 9, 2025 by erictaveren

Two weeks ago I flew to LA to attend this year’s AWP Conference and Bookfair. AWP itself was about the same as usual: some good panels (yay Juan Carlos Reyes), some not-so-good panels (I’m too nice to name names), and too many books finding their way into my backpack (who’s excited for Gods?!).

A few AWP firsts:

Someone asked if I’d be interested is doing a reading next year 🙂
One of the people I split a hotel with head-butt me in their sleep 😦
I wrote and submitted a piece while at the conference 🙂
I took an extra day strictly for research 🙂

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a conundrum with my current project. It takes place in LA and I started writing the pieces before last year’s fires. I had no idea how I should address them in-story. So I took the opportunity to talk with locals and get see what the fire was like for them, how it affected the areas I was writing about, and from there I had to make my decision.

One thing that worked in my favor, specifically regarding the ability to talk to people uninterrupted, was that it was overcast and a little drizzly in the morning. That meant I only had to try a little to not bump into people as I walked on the Santa Monica pier. I talked with one of the employees there, because the tourists outnumber locals 99 to 1, and he said on nice day everyone on the boardwalk is shoulder to shoulder the whole way through.

From the pier I needed to head to Montana Avenue, which wasn’t too far away. This was, of course, after walking a fair amount to find the bus to Santa Monica and walking along and around the pier. I’d read up on the area online, but seeing it in person was incredibly beneficial. One, I didn’t realize how much foot traffic there’d be. I’m used to Grand Ave in St. Paul, where parking is a nightmare because nearly everyone drives there and so much of the walking is to and from vehicles. Not the case on Montana Ave.

As with the pier, nearly everyone was a tourist. The only locals I found were employees of the stores, old people sitting outside of coffee shops, and shoppers at Whole Foods. I made the rounds, stopping at a few specific locations that I plan on incorporating into the story, and got a much better idea of the pulse of those dozen or so blocks.

The most interesting thing I found wasn’t something described online at all. Approaching from the west, the shops spring up almost out of nowhere and look new and fancy. Approaching from the east is the same experience. But there’s a little section in a middle, only a few blocks long, where the buildings, though still nice, have a distinct ma and pa shop feel to them. I didn’t feel like they were tailored to the trendy elite of the area.

My exploration kept me going for a while. A long, long while. At one point I checked my steps and swore out loud when I saw it read 20000 steps. By the end of the day, I’d walked nearly fourteen miles.

Those who personally know me know I’m not in bad shape. But they also know I’m not in walk fourteen miles in one day out of nowhere shape. Oh man did I hurt afterward. But it was worth it. I got home, used my research to update my thesis, and dropped off the printed copies this past Monday. I may have killed a tree in the process of printing them, but it’s for a good cause.

Now I wait a month until my thesis defense. I’m not worried, but waiting that long for anything can be a bit much. So maybe I’ll take a mental break and write a short story. Horror sounds good…

Until next time.

Los Angeles: A Setting Conundrum

Posted on January 27, 2025 by erictaveren

Last spring I decided to have a portion of my novel take place in Los Angeles. One chapter would be closer to downtown, and two chapters would be in Santa Monica. I’ve never been to LA, so I did a bunch of research, found some locations that worked well for theme and ambiance, and went to town.

Then I found out AWP would be in LA this year. Perfect! I’d extend my trip a day, and see my locations in person. I could talk to people, get a feel for the community and the culture and really lend some authenticity to these chapters. Then the fires happened.

I don’t feel I need to go into detail as to how the fires have impacted the LA area, and how terrible the situation is. Everyone sees the news and social media posts. It’s bad, I acknowledge that, and I know the problem I’m about to pose is nothing compared to what they’re dealing with in LA.

What I’m struggling with is how this will impact my story.

The way I look at it, and this can apply to any setting where a significant event has occurred, is I have three options on how to proceed. The first is the easiest: pretend it never/hasn’t happened. I write fiction, so I can take liberties with the when of a story, or even the very world. I could set this pre-fires, create an LA that until very recently is the LA that most people know. All that would take is incorporating my trip research as I’d already planned, and either defining a year of the story (summer 2024 and earlier), or just pretend my areas were never impacted by the fires.

Option two is probably the hardest: incorporate the fire, including community impact. Given my knowledge of LA is based solely on media and research, this is the most daunting. When I go there in March, I’ll see firsthand the impact of the fires in the communities, especially the locations I’ve chosen to be in my story. By talking to people, I’ll hopefully hear what Santa Monica used to be like, the struggles they’re facing as they rebuild, and how they (individually and collectively) are moving on. My character’s family has a business on Montana Ave, so this could present a good opportunity to show community involvement, as well as allow for any creative liberties with building size and placement.

As daunting as effectively portraying that community will be, another concern I have is that it might look like I’m exploiting the community for my narrative. A terrible thing has happened, why not shove it into a story for emotional appeal? Right. Obviously that’s not the goal, as I’d already decided to use Santa Monica well before the fires. But I can’t deny that including the fire aftermath would inherently create an emotional hook for some readers. As writers, creating emotional connections with readers is the goal, the concern is that it might look like I’m taking advantage of a bad situation.

The third option is to have it take place elsewhere. I’d chosen LA because I needed a large city that wasn’t New York (where a healthy chunk of the book takes place), and I was looking for a certain vibe of wealth (Ch. 1) and then a nearby trendy shopping area with a more laid back feel (Ch. 2-3). I’m sure that combination exists elsewhere, but picking somewhere else would be learning a new location, researching it, adapting the narrative to account for it, etc. Definitely more work than option one, probably less work than option two.

So that’s the conundrum. How do I deal with a real natural disaster in my writing? Do I take the easy way and ignore it? Do I remove my story from the location entirely so the disaster has no bearing whatsoever? Or do I try and incorporate it, risk sounding exploitative and try to put some real truth into a piece of fiction?

AWP is at the end of March, so I still have some time to decide, but I need a completed draft by late April. Whatever decision I make, I’ll have only a few weeks to incorporate it. Maybe talking with locals will help make that decision for me. Maybe talking with other writers can give me some insight. Right now, I’m leaning toward including the fires, to have a very real way to tie my character into the community, but we’ll see.

2024 Wrap Up and What’s Coming for 2025

Posted on January 10, 2025 by erictaveren

I’m a couple of weeks late on this, and for that I’ll, without reserve, throw my kids under the bus. Just before and just after New Years I went to the emergency room twice (one a piece), and there’s just been a surplus of vomit in the house. Totally their fault. Especially since my wife and I got incredibly sick after that. And then the grandparents. Norovirus is nasty. Also, an unconventional way to kick start a New Years weight loss goal.

2024 was a big year, more on the life side than the writing side, but there’s always going to be a balance there. This biggest change was I have a new baby. She’s nine months old now, and since I’m stay-at-home-dadding, those nine months have seemed very long. Kara is now crawling (she fully figured it out when her brother was opening presents on Christmas Eve and she wanted them), and I can tell she’s itching to walk.

We also found out in March that two of my brother’s wives were also having babies in 2024. Knowing that, I tried really hard to talk a third brother into having a baby this year. He literally ran away from the conversation 🙂

I also started my MFA thesis this fall. I picked a project I’ve been thinking about for at least five years, the first of an eight book fantasy mystery series following a dark elf private detective. Feedback from my advisor had been great so far, and I’m about to start draft two as thesis wraps up this spring before graduation.

My most exciting writing news of 2024 came right after Election Day (which was a very timely piece of good news). I’ll give a brief bit of backstory first. Two years ago at AWP, I saw a literary magazine called F(r)iction. They fully illustrate their entire magazine, and beautifully so. I knew immediately that if I could be published in any magazine, F(r)iction would be it.

So I sent off a story to them immediately. I didn’t realize at the time that they had themed submissions, and so after nine months I got a rejection, saying it wasn’t a fit for their issue, but to please submit again. So when I saw one of their upcoming themes was Oceans, I had just the story for that (I stole a character from one of my novel ideas and tweaked their story a bit).

I submitted it on Nov 4, and on Nov 7 one of their editors reached out and said he loved it, and wanted to work with me to present to his higher-ups for consideration! Hot damn, was I excited. Then I did edits. And more edits. And was sent to the next level up. And then I did more edits. Finally, the week before Christmas, the story was pitched to the editor in chief and they said yes. I’m going to be in one of F(r)iction’s 2025 issues! Validation!

And not at the same level of excitement, but still exciting, another of my shorts was sent up the line in a different magazine, one where they do full audio productions of the pieces. So if that bears fruit, that’ll be amazing as well.

Sort of bookending the 2024/2025 holiday season, I worked with Water~Stone Review and the Scholastic Writing Award. For Water~Stone I helped screen fiction submissions for the upcoming issue. For the Scholastic Writing Award I was one of the regional judges for the high schoolers who entered their writing. Both had pieces that surprised me (pleasantly and otherwise), and offered good insights into the minds of other writers and their worlds.

Looking forward to 2025, a huge milestone will be finally completing my MFA. I started before covid, and only going one class per semester, it’s certainly taken some time. But when I finish, I’ll be ready with tools and time to really dive into this goal of writing as a career. Kara will be in day care starting August, so I’ll be able to have actual workdays where I can write uninterrupted. With no homework and no kids, I’m going to be more productive than I’ve ever been.

I’ll be going to AWP again in 2025. This year it’s in LA. I’ve never been to LA, and only last year went to California for the first time when my wife had a business trip in San Diego. I’m hoping with momentum from F(r)iction, as well as the other pubs I’ve had in the last couple of years, I’ll be able to make some good connections and find some doors to open.

TLDR: 2024: Had a baby. Started thesis. F(r)iction said yes. 2025: Graduation. AWP. Full-time writing.

Hope you all had a better (healthier) New Years than I did, and stay tuned for more news, books reviews, and random thoughts.